March 18, 1984 Billings, Montana
Dearest Roy, Bob, Claire, Michael & Laura; Rick, Jean, Ricky, Barbara Jean & Mary Ann and Ron, Ann, Susanna, Jessie, Russell & LeeAnna,
We talked to each one of you this weekend except for you Roy - we tried once to get you and then by the time we got back to call you again it would have been 11:30 your time and we worried that you would be in bed. We'll try again tonight - we tried your apartment - I always hate to bother you at the hospital. It was wonderful to talk to Bob & Claire and the Woolleys and the Weinerts and you sound like you're doing great - it is so much fun to hear about our grandchildren and the things they're doing that frustrate you - I guess that is one of the joys of being a grandparent because we know you'll handle the problems just the way they're supposed to be handled. I have worried so much about you Annie because "you really have your hands full" and it was neat to have you express such happiness with your family - AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE WONDERFUL PICTURES!!!! (Ann sent us a whole roll of pictures they had taken at Disneyland and they are all so good and we love them). Jeannie and Claire expressed equal happiness too for their families and that makes us so happy!!!
Just for your information: Rick's Mom is home from the hospital for a little while and Jean says she is quite depressed. I wish so much we could do something for her - I keep thinking we will send a card but we haven't done it yet. Also, Bob is really interested in the facelifts and nose jobs they're doing in the hospital where he is - he and Claire are getting their yard in shape for Summer and Claire in her letter told about how much Bob loves "puttering" in their garage - he always loved the garage in Little Rock too and would spend hours out there.
We have had a really fun week - we didn't plan it this way because we didn't even know about the Stake Basketball Tournament but as it turned out Johnny's team was in the playoffs for the Bi-Stake Championship. We saw them play three games and they won the fist two but lost the championship by 6 points. Johnny is really good - he doesn't make a lot of points but he completely controls the backboard. They took him out of the second game so he could rest and while he was out the other team made 8 points so they had to put him back in. Well for the championship game he fouled out late in the third quarter or they would have won - the referees really keep their eyes on him and call fouls that we don't even see. I really got upset and Daddy just had to walk away from me and pretend he didn't know me - Johnny is bigger than most of the players and is easy for him to foul I guess. He has had a wonderful year of basketball and just loves to play - now he is playing tennis. I hope he can keep this active all his life because he is really happy when he's involved in things.
Well, as we told you on the phone, we have made the change in the kitchen! When Elder and Sister Dunn were with us we told them about some of our problems and the time involved in planning and shopping for all the meals. They told us they thought it was ridiculous for us to keep doing it this way and to make a change right away. Elder Dunn suggested that we have the
Mission Home remodeled and have another kitchen put down at the end of the Offices for the Elders to use. We think that is ridiculous!!!! Sister Dunn told us that she had a situation similar to this during their mission in New Zealand and she said she wouldn't even go into the kitchen (and they had small children.) Finally Elder Dunn decided it shouldn't be that why so he "fired" the cook Sister Dunn said she stood it for about two years and the last year of her mission was the most happy time she had ever had. I don't believe they had missionaries living with them and I think their cook was just cooking for the family but I'm not sure. Anyway, Wednesday morning Daddy talked to Brenda and told her that Elder Dunn had made some suggestions during his tour of the Mission and the first one was to have the house Elders do their own meal planning, buying and cooking their own food so we didn't need a cook. She was really sweet about it and said she understood and would be happy to go back to Arkansas - it was a shock to her and I'm sure she feels kind of let down but she has been great about it. She called her daughters in Little Rock to have them fly out here and then drive back with her. It was funny, Friday night we had a call from Chris in Little Rock and she said, "I' hear you're going to sell the Mission Home!" I guess Brenda had told her daughters that we were going to either sell the home or have the missionaries live in apartments in Billings - Daddy had told her that if it didn't work to have the Elders prepare their own food here then they would have to move out. We're going to have to make some strict rules but there is no earthly reason for two women and a mission president to spend so much time so six Elders can have wonderful meals served to them. We think this will really help the morale out in the field too because the missionaries out there kind of resent the house Elders. It will probably make more work for me but work is not something I'm afraid of - this has been the most frustrating experience of my life and I am really looking forward to "having a home" again and Johnny says he will like it a lot better. We have those two big refrigerators down in the kitchen and we'll have one and the Elders will have the other one and Johnny will be able to bring his friends home and fry a hamburger or fix a pizza or whatever and it will be fun for him. There will be two hard days a month - when the new missionaries come in and when the ones who have completed their missions go home and I may have to get someone to come in and help me. Elder Dunn said the biggest reason for a cook is to help our family and it just hasn't been that way - she has been here to please the missionaries. I told them that I worried a lot about it being a "jealousy" thing with me but they assured me they didn't think that was it. Johnny has already asked to have her bedroom because it is so far away from the Elders he could play his stereo as loud as he wanted to - We haven't decided about that!!! Now when you come, you probably won't have the glorious meals you have had before but we'll be able to do our thing in the kitchen and it will be a lot more fun. She is going to leave on the first of April. We will hire someone to come in and help with the housework.
Last Monday we received six new Elders and they are going to be good missionaries. Do you remember the Hancocks in Arkansas - I'm sure Jeannie does because she was going with their oldest son and he left to go on his mission while she was a BYU and was killed on a motorcycle. They have had an Indian boy living with them for the past four years and he was sent to our Mission - his name is Elder James and he is really a fine young man - kinda' shy but sweet. Ina Hancock had written to us about him coming. Daddy sent him to serve in Casper and that is so cold compared to Tucson where he has been living with the Hancocks. We also had an Elder Rhodes from Brigham City (actually Perry) and I was sure he would be a relative of mine but he isn't a very close one if at all - he does know all of Dee and Judy's children though and I guess he's the age of Annette. He will be a good missionary too. He told me that he just lives a few miles from my high school friend, Helen Jane Lemon, and knows all their children - he said their children were too wild to go on missions!!! They might be too wild right now but we have had some really good missionaries come out who had to change their lives around.
Tuesday we had four who had completed their missions come in to go home. One of them was a sweet Sister Rhees who lives in Ogden - Daddy had to send her home a few weeks early because he had a Sister Threesome and that causes problems galore. She was the Relief Society President of one of your friends, Jeannie and her parents are on a mission at the visitor's center in Mesa, Arizona. The three Elders who went home were good missionaries and we'll miss them.
We left this morning about 6 to drive to Cowley, Wyoming for the Lovell Stake Conference. They are remodeling the building in Lovell so they had to have two sessions in Cowley because it is too small to accommodate all of the people - one was from 9 to 11 and the other from 12 - 2. They served a nice lunch for us in between the sessions. Elder Tyler Woolley was the Regional Representative so we brought him back to Billings to catch his airplane after the conference - it was scheduled to leave at 5 but it was delayed for two hours so he came back to the Mission Home to have dinner with us. Brenda had fixed the missionaries' favorite meal - chicken noodle soup over mashed potatoes and it was really good.
Daddy and Johnny went fishing for a little while yesterday but they didn't catch anything. Every once in awhile Daddy gets his fishing box out and just "plays with" his fishing lures and things - he is really anxious to have time to go fishing. Johnny went "ling" fishing the night before on the Yellowstone River but he didn't have any luck with that either. When the weather warms up he will "take" time to go fishing, I hope!
Daddy has a terrible cold so last night I made him go to bed about 9:30 - he usually stays by the phone until at least 10:30. He told the Secretary to tell anyone who called that he was ill and had gone to bed early (the first time he has done that). Well - about 11:30 we heard this loud pounding on our bedroom door and it was his secretary telling him there was an emergency and he was wanted on the phone. Two of our missionaries serving in Helena had been hit broadside at an intersection (sounded like your accident Roy) and they were in the hospital. Daddy stayed up until he had a report from the doctor that they were going to be okay - the driver had a slight concussion and a broken nose but the other Elder is okay but their car is
totaled. Daddy had to call the Elder's mother and it scared her to death. The one who got hurt didn't have his seat belt on - SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL IN EVERYTHING YOU DO - Let us know how we can help you - we love each one of you so very much and really miss you!!!
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